Process of briqueting and pressing fuels.



1,052,093. Patented Feb. 4, 1913.

1111 r 2000 Am.

Illllll WITNESSES INVENTOR 7 APP/422 Bin 0r mu/MM ATTORNEYS ARrAn-RoNAY, or BERLIN, GERMANY, AssIGNoR 'ro ALLGEMEINE BRIKETIERUNGSGEsELLscHAE'r m. 3.11., or BER IN, GERMANY, A CORPORATION OF GERMANY.

PROCESS OF BRIQUETING AND PRESSING FIIELS.

Specification of.I.etters Patent.

Patented Feb. 4, 1913.

Original application filed July 21, 1909, Serial No. 508,784. Dividedand this application filed April 8,

To all whom it may concern:

Be 'it known that I, Annie RNAY, a subject of the King of Hungary, andresident of Berlin; Germany, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Processes of Briqueting and Pressing Fuels, of

which the following is a specification.

This application is a division of my earlier application on .whichPatent No.

1,002,453 was issued September 5, 1911, in-

. In both the prior and the present application the processes requirethat all air be removed from the material to be briqueted simultaneouslywith the briqueting operation and a machine particularly adapted forapplying both processes has been described and claimed in ,anapplication Serial N 0. 508,7 84, filed simultaneously with the priorapplication on which Patent No. 1,002,453 above referred to was granted.

That my invention may be better underused heretofore, one havlng severalstages,

stood it may be stated that in making briquets and compressing smallmasses of material which are. to be united to form an entirety, it isnecessary to remove the air fromthe said material. It may be thought,

that the air can be removedin various ways. The employment of amomentary, very great pressure like a blow first suggested itself; airis not removed in this manner to the desired extent, however, since onthe one hand the air has no time to escape during the momentarypercussional action, whereas on the other hand the machine is veryseverely strained and unreasonable wear and l :I tear produced. The samedisadvantages are met with when the pressure, though not Serial N0.619,671.

brought about by blows, is caused very rapidly and when the maximumpressure obtained lasts a definite time. Another mode of removmg the airconslstsin increasing the pressure continuously to a maximum,

whereby, sliding molds being' preferably used, opportunity is given tothe air pressed to the sides to escape. operation air is removed inlayers, the removal continuing gradually from the mov-' In such a modeof able stamp to the stationary counter stamp.

-Now I have found that a continuedrise of pressure, 2'. 6. when thepressure rises by exactly equal amounts per unit of timeorper each equalfraction of the time of the pressing operation, cannot insure a.completely 1 satisfactory -br1queting. This observation resulted fromperceiving that the amount of the increase in pressure per unit of timeor per fraction of the time occupied by the pressing operation must bebrought into rethe rise of pressure per unit of time or per [fraction ofthe total time at disposal be brought about, whereas with diminishingad;mixture of air a rise of pressure all the greater may take placewithin-the unit-"of time.

.lat-ion with the admixturecof air which is present in the stage of thepressing opera tion in question. The greater the percentage-or admixtureof air, the longer must For carrying my invention into practice I employinstead of'the continuous pressure preferably as many as possible; thegreater the number of pressure stages, the closer the approximation tothe ideal pressure curve.

Increasing the number of pressure stages has the additional advantagethat the oper-= ation of removin the air from the material curve isrepresented by z, a maximum pressure of 2000 atmospheres brought aboutin 16 seconds being assumed. It is clear that at the end of the firstquarter of the total pressing period 2'. 6. after four seconds, apressure of about 120 kilos is employed; at the end of 8 seconds about360 kilos; at the end of 12 seconds about 875 kilos; at the end of 14seconds a pressure of about 1300 kilos; and at the end of 15 seconds apressure of about 1575 kilos is obtained. If now the total pressure besubdivided into a number of pressure stages, 6. 9. into eight designatedI to VIII, as is shown in the accompanying drawing, it is seen that theduration of the pressure stages becomes constantly shorter withincreasing pressure corresponding to the line of ideal pressure curve6'; thus the first pressure stage I lasts for about six seconds, thesecond II only about three seconds, the third III about two seconds, andso on, the last pressure stage VIII lasting about one-half second. Thediagram clearly shows that the smaller the number of pres sure stages,the less perfectly does the actual compression curve fit the pressurecurve, whereas, on'the other hand, with an increas ing number ofpressure stages the actual compression curve approximates. more and moreclosely to the ideal pressure curve. Furthermore it follows from thediagram that as the number of pressure stages increases, the concussionswhich occur when passing from one pressure stage to the next, occupy acontinually greater fraction of the 'total time, thereby producing anapproximately continuous shaking movement favorable for removing theair.

Whereas the ideal curve 11 gives those pressures which are exerted bythe operative face of the stamp, i. e. by the face of the'briquet presson the material,-;;' indicates the ideal curve of those pressures whichare exerted upon the hydraulicpiston corresponding to the curve 21; afour-fold ratio of transmission is here assumed between the face of thehydraulic piston and the stamp of the press, a pressure of 2000atmospheres at the latter corresponding to a pressure of 500 atmosphereson the former so that at any given moment the ordinate of a point on thecurve j is one-fourth the ordinate of the corresponding curve 2'. Fromthis it follows that for obtaining the pressure stages such as I, II,III, etc., in the cylinder of the press,

the machine must-be adjusted correspondingly to the pressure stages I,II", III, etc., which approach the curve 6, each of the pressure stagesappertaining to the curve 71 is four times greater in the examplerepresented than the corresponding pressure stage which belongs to thecurve 9' whereas the duration of these corresponding pressure stages isequal. The number of pressure stages to be employed is dependent on thepercentage of air in the material, on the porosity, granularity, densityand special physical properties of the material to be pressed, size andshape of the briquets to be made, and other considerations. According tomy invention I may employ it not only with materials such as coal, salt,sawdust, ore, fuels, refuse and peat, but I may also employ it forproducing a rigid combination of granular, powdery, leafy, fibrous orother substances of like form, sheets of paper, metal foil, etc., forexample, for the purpose of alloying metals in the press cold byproducing the state termed cold-liquid." The application of the broadprinciples of my invention is therefore not confined to briquetingprocesses, but may be applied also to all other compression operations,as for example forging, wire drawing and the ike. In mypriorapplication, No. 508,784, referred to, I have particularlydescribed the process of briqueting metal chips, shavings or other wastemetals, such as iron filings, steel filings and the like and have calledattention to various modes of practising my invention and to variousprinciples and ap plications thereof.

Other principles and modes of operation more particularly essential ordesirable in the briqueting of material other than fuels are notnecessary to be described in this application although belonging to theinvention broadly.

Myinvention may be very advantageously i employed for making moldedblocks of fuel adapted to the briqueting of slaty coal or' In order toform these non-briquet or mixtures of fuel which in themselves arenon-briquetlng; the process is particularly lignite.

I ing materials into usable briquets, said material is first subjectedto a total predetermined pressure according to the system ofsuccessivestages which have been above described; this material must beair-dry to start with and free of any agglutinant. The

- block thus formed is then subjected to a sudden maximum pressure underthe influence of which that air is removed from the mass which isinclosed in the individual particles of the material and is driven out:from the lowest layers of such particles by the bitumen which is emittedat this maximum pressure. There is to be found among fuels a largenumber of bodies containing practically no bitumen or equivalentsubstance capable of becoming plastic under high pres sure and henceacting as an agglutinant. If such material is to be briqueted, in orderthat not too high a pressure he required in the second part of thepressing operation,

which would perhaps make the economy of r the entire process doubtful,it is preferable to add to the material very small quantities ofsubstances'capable of becoming plastic or agglutinative only at the highfinal pressure.

Bituminous substances, such as bituminous slate, hard pitch, clay,clay-containing masses, lime, cement and thelike are suitable for thispurpose. In individual instances it is preferable in the case of fuelsto mix the binding substances with merely the outside surface of thefinished briquet and to leave the core of the briquet unchanged so thatthe surface forms a crust containing the binding substances. Theagglutinant can be applied tothe surface of the briquet in various'ways,e. g. by coating the inside of the molds therewith. Briquets havingtheir suring fuel without the aid of an agglutinant and completelyremoving the air' therefrom, which consists in subjecting the fuel to apressure which rises during a definite fraction of the duration of thepressure'by an increasing amount per unit of time as the percentage ofair in the fuel decreases,

whereby a block of fuel is obtained, and in thereupon subjecting theblock to a sudden maximum pressure. I v

2. The herein described process of briqueting and pressing air-dry,non-briqueting fuel and completely removing the air therefrom, whichconsists in mixing with the fuel a very small quantity of a substancewhich only becomes agglutinative under the action of a sudden, very highpressure, in

subjecting the mixture thus obtained to a pressure which rises during adefinitefraction of the duration of the pressure by an I,increasingamoun't per unit of time as the percentage of air in thematerials decreases,

' whereby a' block of fuel is obtained, and-in thereupon subjecting theblock to a sudden maximum pressure.

3. The herein described process of briqueting air-dry, non-briquetingfuel and completely removing the air. therefrom, which consists inbringing the fuel into the form of a body and simultaneously applying ito the surface of the bodya very small quan- '-tity of a substance,which only becomes agglutinative under the action of a sudden, very highpressure, in subjecting the body to a pressure which rises during adefinite fraction of the duration of the pressure by an increasingamount per unit of time as the percentage of air in the fuel decreases,

Q whereby a block of fuel is obtained, in there-- upon subjecting theblock. to a sudden maxi mum pressure.

4:. The herein described process of briqueting air-dry, non-briquetingfuel and completely removing the air therefrom,

which consists in coating the inside of a mold with a substance whichonly becomes agglutinative under the action of a sudden very highpressure, in placing the fuel into the coated mold and thereby forming abody and applying to the surface thereof said substance, in subjectingthe body to a pressure which rises during a definite fraction of theduration of the pressure by an increasing amount per unit of time as thepercentage of air in the fueldecreases, whereby a block of fuel isobtained, in thereupon subjecting the blockto a sudden maximum pressure.

5. The herein described process of briqueting air-dry, non-briquetingfuel and completely removing the air therefrom, which consists incoatingthe inside of a mold with asubstance which only becomesagglutinati-ve under the action of a sudden, very high pressure, inplacing the fuel into' the coated mold and thereby forming a body andapplying to the surface thereof said substance, in subjecting thebody toa pressure which rises during a definite fractionof the duration of -thepressure by an increasing amount per unit of time as the percentage ofair in the materials decreases,

whereby a block of fuel is obtained, in there-' upon subjecting theblock to a sudden maximum pressure, whereby a briquet'having a crust isobtained, and in then subjecting the briquet' to the action of steam.. v

6. The herein described process of briqueting and pressing air-dry,non-briquet-, ing'fuel without the aid of an agglutinant and completelyremoving the air therefrom, which consists in subjecting the fuel to apressure which rises during a definite fraction of the duration vof thepressure by an increasing amount per unit of time as the percentage ofair in the fuel decreases,

whereby a'block of fuel is obtained, and in thereupon subjecting theblock toa sudden maximum pressure, whereby a briquet is obtained, and inthen coking the surface of the briquet. s I

7. The herein described process of briqueting and pressing air-dry,non-briqueting fuel without the aid of an.agglutinant and completelyremoving the air therefrom, briquet, and subsequently impregnating thewhich consists in subjecting the fuel to a briquet with bitumen.

pressure which rises during a definite frac- In testimony whereof I havehereunto set tion of the duration of the pressure by an my hand in thepresence of two subscribing 5 increasing amount per unit of time as the'wltnesses.

percentage of air in the fuel decreases, *ARPAD RQNAY. whereby a blockof fuel is obtained, and in Witnesses:

thereupon subjecting the block to a sudden ERNEST ENTENMANN,

maximum pressure, whereby a briquet is ob- PAULINE KLAIBER.

1 0" tained, and in then coking the surface of the k

